Polymer clay

I've made my first shy steps in the polymer clay world. With a little help from my daughter.
And I have some urgent questions:
1. I can make the beads round between my hands, but when I start making holes they deform (pressure of hands and needle). How do you get nice round beads?
2. How do you avoid/remove finger tip prints? Polish with what?
3. When covering a bead with gloss, on what do you dry them? I imagine you cannot lay them on a piece of paper without them sticking to it.

I'd appreciate all the help out there for it is quite enchanting craft and I'd like to continue.

Baby Girl Set

A little pat on my head - a baby set for a girl due in June:

Photos: future mum Mari
Did I mention that these adorable matching duckling buttons I got from the market... again!?! :)

Info:
Pattern: my own
Needles: booties 2mm, jacket 2,75 mm
Yarn: GRM Filati Super Baby (100% virgin wool) (used 100 gr)

Knitting with both hands

Some of you define themselves Continental Knitters, some English Knitters some Italian knitters, some knit like Portugese do. I was continental knitter, still am as a matter of fact, but now I could say I am expanded continental knitter.
I like learning new things, I find great pleasure trying out different designs, always keeping an eye on, that they have some new techinques to teach me. I do not like knitting items where I cannot play with new skills, so when I saw Equinox Yoke Pullover I knew I wanted to do it. But knitting with colors is such a dull thing, all that stranding and yarn balls getting all tangled up (even if you are careful and follow yarn dominance principles... you know, the thing about which yarn always comes from under and which from top), and the tightness-looseness of stitches which is difficult to control... so I let it be at first and while surfing in internet one day I found a website which had a video about circular knitting with both hands (I can't find it anymore though). I flared up! I had to learn it. And of course I'm just not going to make a simple swatch and try it, I just started the Equinox Yoke pullover straight away. (Okay I opened Knitting Help site and looked how you gotta knit english way, tryed it out on few rows and off I was). The sleeves I knit continental way, working real fast for I was eager to start knititng in the round. And yes, girls, I did it. The first few rows were slow, but the more I knit the faster I got (logical, huh), and I'm hooked. My next goal is to start flat color knititng also with both hands. So I'm in lookout for a project to do that.

Viljakusperiood

Rasedusega pole pealkirjal midagi pistmist.
Mu käed on usinalt küll tootnud mitmesuguseid kuduvõtteid hiljuti, aga midagi täiesti valmis nagu polegi näidata.
Esiteks "proovin" ma juba tükk aega lõpetada Interweave Knits Fall 2006 numbrist Equinox Yoke pulloveri, mis oleks umbes täpselt selline:
Aga selle asemel on selline (alustasin peale jõule, aga siis tuli igalt poolt palju titeuudiseid ja oli vaja kiiresti piduliku ettevõtmise tarbeks kehasoojendajaid jne; nii ta pooleli jäi):
Need pärisvärvid:
Equinox ootab vaba-õhtu-tuhande-otsa-peitmise-ja-kampsi-kokkuõmblemise-motivatsiooni. Näete mu probleemi?
Teiseks, kardan ma selle suure töö tegemist, sest ta juba tundub mulle natuke lühike ja mis siis kui ka venitamine ei aita?

Taaskord langesin ma Norah Gaughani kavalasse mustrilõksu. Kui minu koju saabus tema "Knitting Nature" raamat, siis ma vaimustusin hoobilt, otsisin välja Debbie Bliss Cathay lõnga ja asusin hoogsalt vardaId klõbistma, lootuses enne pikka nädalavahetust seljakate valmis saada ning sellega uhkelt Pescaras ringi käia.
Selle asemel leidsin end laupäeva hommikul rannas fakti eest, et tegu on taaskord-nutmajava-Gaughani-sans-néné-mudeliga. On ehk kellelgi aimu, kuidas parndada lohvakaid kaenlaaluse kohti, mis on tingitud vormikusest selles piirkonnas ning mustris sellepoolse tõiga vältimisest. Lühikesed read? Harutamine?

Kuna mind tabas kaks motivatsioonitust järjest, siis ma pidin kohe uue projekti leidma: Knitty Forecast.
Millest ma mulisesin ka siin
Ja kasutades ära siinset tasuta reklaampinda tahaks natuke kiita kohalikku turgu, mis hiilgab lõngaletis parema kvaliteedi ja hindadega kui kohalikud lõngapoed. Pole nii pehmet meriinot varem poes näinud. Ainus probleem on see lõngalett muidugi teistkordselt üles leida.

Pescaras leidsin lõgapoe. Ilmne viga. Ostsin lõnga:
Filatura di Crosa Millefini Fine 100% puuvillOn ju ilusad värvid?
Transformeerub too uueks Clapotis'ks:

Lõpetuseks siiski patsutan ennast - väikese juuni beebi tervituskomplekt:

Fotod: tulevane ema Mari
Kas ma juba mainisin, et need armastusväärsed pardinööbid leidsin ma ka turult!?! :)

Info:
Muster: minu oma
Vardad: papud 2mm, jakike 2,75 mm
Lõng: GRM Filati Super Baby (100% tallevilla) (kulus 100 gr)

WIPs

I've been moving my hands a lot lately.
As well as trying to finish Equinox Yoke Pullover from Interweave Knits Fall 2006, Which should become something like this:
And instead is like this (I strated it right after Christmas, but got caught up by other projects and now picked it up, for in the light of possible translocation I need to get UFOs finished and as mucha s yarn possible used up):
And the true colors:
It now has been waiting for that free evening of weave-the-million ends-sew-up-garment-motivation. I think you see my problem.
Plus I am afraid to sew it up and re-block for it is obviously too short now, and maybe it won't "stretch" :(

I also have once again fallen into the Norah Gaughan entrapment skills and followed by the glorious arrival of the book called "Knitting Nature" which made me dig out my Debbie Bliss Cathay and start knitting franctically hoping to finish it before Ponte...
instead it made a blister on my finger and made me realize that this is yet-another-to-cry-about-Gaughan-sans-néné-design. Does anyone have an idea how to make the floppy "ears" below armpits go away. Blocking doesn't help. I have hope in placing straps differently or maybe.... I just have to rip.

In the mean time, for I was saddened by my 2-in-a-row instantunsuccessfulnesses I started yet another project: Forecast from Knitty.
About which I blabbed a little here
And would like to emphasize at this point the importance of local markets, specially when they carry better yarns than local yarn shops do. And cheaper prices, for the yarn is produced in small farms and sold exclusevely on local markets, you just have to find the right stall.
In these occasions you are truly reminded that largely the best and most beautiful yarns from Europe are made in Italy.

And while celebrating the long weekend il Ponte (28th April - 1st May) in Pescara I found a yarn shop and bought, guess what, of course, yarn. This time the shiny and soft and elegant Filatura di Crosa Millefini Fine 100% cotton:Aren't the colors just great?
It is turning into another Clapotis, one of my favourtie patterns: